Hollinger 

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EXILED  IRISH  PATRIOTS. 


SPEECH 


OF 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 

IN    THE 

( 

SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  FEBRUARY  11,  1852. 


THE  SENATE  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  resolution  submit- 
ted by  Mr.  FOOTE,  of  Mississippi,  on  the  2d  December,  expressive  of 
the  sympathy  of  Congress  for  the  exiled  Irish  patriots,  SMITH  O'BRIEN 
and  THOMAS  F.  MEAGHER,  and  their  associates. 

Mr.  SHIELDS  had  offered  the  following  as  a  substitute  : 

Strike  out  all  after  the  enacting  clause,  and  insert : 

"  That  while  we  disclaim  all  intention  of  interfering  in  any  way  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  we  deem  it  our  duty  to  express, 
m  a 

by  blood 

dates  restored  to  liberty,  and  permitted,  if  so  disposed,  to  emigrate  to  this  country. 
We  would  regard  this  act  of  clemency  as  a  new  proof  of  the  friendly  disposition 
of  the  British  Government  towards  our  Republic,  and  as  calculated  to  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  affection  now  happily  existing  between  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.'7 

Mr.  SEWARD  had  proposed  to  amend,  so  that  the  resolution  would 
read  as  follows  : 

"  That  while  we  disclaim  all  intention  of  interfering  in  any  way  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  we  deem  it  our  duty  to  express, 
in  a  courteous  manner,  our  opinion  that  it  would  be  highly  gratifying  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  (many  of  whom  are  natives  of  Ireland,  and  connected  by  blood 
with  the  inhabitants  of  that  country,)  to  see  Smith  O'Brien  and  his  associates  re- 
stored to  liberty,  and  permitted,  if  so  disposed,  to  emigrate  to  this  country.  And 
that  this  act  of  clemency  would  be  regarded  as  a  new  proof  of  the  friendly  dispo- 
sition of  the  British  Government  towards  our  Republic,  and  as  calculated  to 
strengthen  the  bonds  of  affection  now  happily  existing  between  the  people  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland." 

Mr.  SEWARD  rose  and  said : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  This  resolution  seems  to  me  neither  inconsiderate 
nor  unimportant.  It  is  a  resolution  which  must  have  the  assent  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  the  approbation  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  so  will  become  a  national  act.  It  recommends — I 

BUELI,  &  BLANCHAXD,  Printers. 


might,  perhaps,  say  solicits — clemency  towards  the  patriots  of  Ireland 
who  are  suffering  imprisonment  in  a  penal  colony ;  and  it  is  designed 
for  the  information  of  the  British  Government,  and  therefore  must  be 
regarded  as  an  appeal  by  the  United  States  to  Great  Britain. 

Sir,  I  think  the  proceeding  is  defensible  upon  the  grounds  of  abstract 
justice  and  propriety,  as  well  as  upon  a  due  consideration  of  the  rela- 
tions of  all  the  parties  concerned. 

I  beg  leave  to  say,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  not  altogether  novel 
In  character  and  principle.  The  patriots  of  Ireland,  who  are  the  sub- 
jects of  this  debate,  are  suffering  imprisonment  in  consequence  of  an 
effort,  honestly  made,  to  restore  their  native  land  to  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence. The  sympathy  expressed  by  this  resolution  for  them  springs 
from  the  same  source  from  which  the  sympathy  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  has  sprung,  which  has  been  habitually  exhibited  towards 
nations  striving  to  assert  the  same  rights — the  sympathy  which  was 
expressed  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  towards  France  in  1793, 
in  1830,  and  in  1848  ;  towards  Greece,  towards  the  rising  South  Amer- 
ican republics,  towards  Poland,  towards  Germany,  and  towards  Hun- 
gary. Even  in  form,  sir,  the  measure  assimilates  itself  to  the  action 
of  Congress  in  regard  to  Louis  Kossuth,  who  has  been,  through  our 
interposition,  released  from  imprisonment  in  Asia  Minor,  and  brought 
to  our  shores,  received,  and  welcomed  as  a  guest  of  the  United  States. 

The  interest  which  is  expressed  in  this  resolution  for  William  Smith 
O'Brien,  like  that  which  is  expressed  toward  Louis  Kossuth,  is  not 
merely  personal,  but  it  is  the  reverential  compassion  indulged  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States  for  a  fallen  nation  "in  a  man  compris'd." 
It  is  not,  then,  the  cause  of  William  Smith  O'Brien  alone — it  is  the 
cause  of  Ireland. 

The  merits  of  a  nation's  cause,  and  of  its  defenders,  involve  not  merely 
the  particular  accidents  or  incidents  which  bring  the  cause  before  us,  but 
the  whole  life  of  the  nation.  So  it  was  that  our  forefathers,  in  adopt- 
ing the  declaration  of  American  independence,  reviewed  the  entire  colo- 
nial experience  in  vindication  of  the  act  of  abjuration  of  their  allegiance 
to  the  British  Throne. 

Ten  centuries  ago,  sir,  Ireland  was  an  independent  nation,  possessing 
the  elements  and  the  forces  of  national  stability.  Ireland  was  guilty  of 
one  enduring  crime — it  was  the  crime  of  proximity  to  England.  Ire- 
land labored  under  one  enduring  misfortune — it  was  the  misfortune 
that,  for  many  centuries,  she  had  remained  unconquered  and  uncon- 
querable. The  crime  provoked  the  cupidity  of  England,  the  misfor- 
tune begat  divisions  into  septs  and  clans,  and  these  civil  distractions 
favored  an  invader.  At  the  very  moment,  sir,  when  Henry,  a  Norman 
King  of  England — the  second  of  that  name,  I  think — was,  as  the  chron- 
icle relates,  "  casting  in  his  mind  to  conquer  the  adjacent  island,  because 
it  seemed  to  him  to  be  commodious,  and  because  its  inhabitants  were 
savage  and  rude,"  he  was  applied  to  by  a  deposed  Irish  prince  to  rein- 
state him  on  the  throne.  The  invader  enjoyed  one  vast  advantage : 
England  had  been  successively  subjugated  by  the  Romans,  the  Danes, 
the  Saxons,  and  the  Normans,  and  in  that  rough  experience  she  had 
acquired  the  consolidation  and  discipline  which,  combined  with  the  en- 
ergy arising  from  a  mingling  of  races,  and  an  ambition  springing  from 


an  insular  position,  have  enabled  her  almost  "  to  have  the  world  in 
empire." 

The  invasion,  of  course,  did  not  result  in  restoring  the  Irish  King, 
nor  did  it  result  in  the  conquest  of  Ireland.  It  ended  in  only  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  small  colony  upon  the  coast,  enclosed  with  palisades,  and 
therefore  called  "  The  Pale."  Within  the  "  Pale  "  were  Englishmen, 
English  lords,  English  manners,  English  customs,  and  English  rule ; 
and  without  the  "  Pale  "  were  the  entire  nation  of  Irishmen,  with  their 
hereditary  princes,  and  their  native  language,  customs,  and  manners. 

Acting  upon  the  law  of  nations,  as  it  was  then  understood,  these 
races  regarded  each  other  as  natural  enemies  ;  and  hence  ensued  wars 
unsparing  and  unrelenting.  The  Reformation  forced  a  new  element 
into  this  internecine  strife.  The  Catholic  Church  in  England  had  given 
place  to  one  which  suited  its  Kings  and  people  better.  Considerations 
of  prudence,  co-operating  with  a  spirit  of  proselytism,  determined  the 
Government  of  England  to  subvert  the  Catholic  Church  in  Ireland. 
The  sword  was  the  missal  sent,  and  a  ferocious  soldiery  were  the  apos- 
tles of  the  new  faith.  The  Irish  preferred  their  paternal  religion  to 
that  which  was  so  rudely  recommended  to  them  by  their  enemies.  The 
"  Pale,"  although  backed  by  England,  was  too  feeble  to  subjugate  Ire- 
land ;  and  Ireland,  distracted  by  the  jealousies  of  her  clans,  was  too 
weak  to  crush  the  "Pale;"  and  so  for  four  hundred  years  continued 
wars,  at  the  end  of  which  both  parties  retained  their  relative  positions 
and  power.  And  thus  all  that  important  portion  of  the  nation's  life 
was  worse  than  lost,  in  consequence  of  an  imperfect  conquest.  At  last, 
five  hundred  and  twenty  years  after  the  first  invasion  by  Henry,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  great  battle  fought  on  the  banks  of  the  Boyne,  Ireland 
capitulated ;  and  at  that  time  the  entire  twelve  millions  of  acres  of  til- 
lable land  were  divided  and  parcelled  out  among  the  invaders  and  the 
few  apostatizing  natives.  Ireland  capitulated,  and,  by  the  treaty  of 
Limerick,  subjected  herself  to  the  government  of  the  "Pale."  But 
she  reserved,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  the  liberty  of  conscience.  This 
right — the  liberty  of  conscience — was  not  only  stipulated  by  the  treaty 
of  Limerick,  but  was  solemnly  guarantied  by  William  and  Mary,  now 
the  common  sovereigns  of  the  two  countries. 

England,  nevertheless,  persevered  in  her  policy  of  subverting  the 
Catholic  Church,  changing  only  the  means  employed  for  that  purpose. 
She  perfidiously  broke  the  covenants  of  peace,  though  they  had  been 
written  in  blood,  and  established  a  Penal  Code,  disfranchising  the  Cath- 
olic Irish  people  of  all  civil,  political,  social,  and  domestic  liberty,  as 
well  as  of  their  ecclesiastical  rights,  and  thus  substituted  for  invading 
armies  the  sterner  despotism  of  the  law,  and  withdrew  the  sword  to  re- 
place it  with  the  scaffold. 

Sir,  I  shall  not  detail  that  atrocious  code,  but  will  content  myself  by 
giving  a  description  of  it,  drawn  by  Edmund  Burke,  seventy  years  ago — 
a  description  which  time  has  now  proved  prophetic : 

"  It  is,"  says  he,  "  a  system  full  of  coherence  and  consistency,  well  digested  and  well 
disposed,  in  all  its  parts  fitted  for  the  impoverishment" — (yes,  sir,  these  are  the 
words,) — "fitted  for  the  impoverishment  and  the  degradation  of  a  people,  and  for  de- 
basing in  them  of  human  nature  itself." 

The  after  history  of  Ireland,  Mr.  President,  is  a  record  of  frequent 


and  generous,  but  unavailing  struggles,  by  or  in  behalf  of  the  People, 
to  cast  off  that  code,  and,  more  recently,  to  redeem  the  country  from 
its  desolating  effects.  In  the  year  1778,  Grattan,  Burke,  and  Flood, 
profiting  by  the  enthusiasm  awakened  throughout  the  world  by  the 
American  Revolution,  and  by  the  embarrassment  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment in  consequence  of  it,  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  British  Par- 
liament a  relaxation  of  the  rigors  of  the  code  in  regard  to  education  and 
the  rights  of  property ;  and,  in  the  year  1782,  when  the  exigencies  of 
the  British  Government  had  become  more  alarming,  they  succeeded  in 
wresting  from  the  British  King  and  Parliament  a  renunciation  of  legis- 
lative and  sovereign  power  over  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland ;  and  it  was 
expressed  in  these  solemn  and  memorable  words : 

"  The  rights  claimed  by  the  people  of  Ireland,  to  be  bound  only  by  laws  enacted 
by  His  Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  thai  Kingdom,  shall  be  and  are  established, 
and,  at  no  time  hereafter,  shall  be  questioned  or  questionable." 

Sir,  Ireland  exulted  for  a  delirious  moment  in  national  independence 
regained;  but  it  was  only  for  a  moment,  and  that  moment  was  delirious. 
Ireland  required  the  repeal  of  the  penal  code,  and  demanded  a  consti- 
tution. The  Parliament  and  the  "  Pale,"  constituted  of  a  Protestant 
representation  alone,  and  being  in  the  interest  of  England,  refused  both. 
Discontent,  wide  and  deep,  pervaded  the  Irish  people.  Emmett,  Fitz- 
gerald, and  their  associates,  in  1798,  conspired  to  raise  the  standard  of 
insurrection ;  but  they  were  betrayed,  and  the  rebellion  was  crushed  in 
the  germ. 

The  Government  of  Great  Britain  now  assumed  that  the  people  of 
Ireland  had  tried,  fully  and  fairly  tried,  the  experiment,  and  had  proved 
themselves  incapable  of  exercising  the  franchise  of  self-government. 
The  British  Parliament,  therefore,  sent  down  to  the  Parliament  of  the 
Pale  what  was  called  an  act  of  Union,  and  in  the  year  1800  that 
mockery  of  a  legislature  adopted  it,  and  surrendered  its  own  perfidious 
and  pernicious  existence.  By  that  act  of  Union,  Ireland,  in  May,  1800, 
was  in  name  united,  but  was  in  fact  absorbed,  and  became  virtually  a 
province  of  the  British  Empire,  with  only  the  shadow  of  a  representa- 
tion of  the  Protestant  minority  of  the  Kingdom  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment. Daniel  O'Connell,  a  jurist  and  advocate  of  surpassing  genius, 
eloquence,  and  learning,  inferring,  from  the  failure  of  the  men  of  1798, 
that  the  time  for  a  martial  revolution  had  passed  away,  at  least  for  the 
present,  conceived  the  bold  purpose  of  obtaining  a  repeal  of  the  penal 
code  and  the  restoration  of  his  country  to  a  place  among  the  nations, 
by  a  process  of  civil  agitation,  always  within  the  restraints  of  the  law, 
and  looking  for  the  effect  through  the  action  of  the  King  and  Parlia- 
ment of  England.  In  the  year  1829  he  obtained  a  signal  triumph  in 
the  passage  of  the  act  of  Catholic  emancipation.  There  remained  but 
one  step  between  this  memorable  act  and  the  freedom  and  independence 
of  Ireland.  That  step  was  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of  Union.  But  the 
ruin  and  desolation  resulting  from  the  penal  code,  which  Burke  had 
predicted,  pressed  too  hard  upon  the  march  of  the  Reformer.  Ireland 
could  not  wait  the  slow  progress  and  doubtful  success  of  civic  agita- 
tion. The  nation  divided  between  the  parties  of  "  Old  Ireland,"  fol- 
lowing the  lead  of  Daniel  O'Connell  and  his  peaceful  standard,  and  of 
"  Young  Ireland,"  under  the  revolutionary  banner  set  up  by  William 


Smith  O'Brien.  Now,  in  point  of  fact,  it  is  possible  that  even  if  the 
Irish  people  had  remained  united,  neither  of  those  policies  would  have 
been  successful ;  but  it  is  also  certain,  that  when  the  nation  divided 
and  broke,  both  efforts  signally  failed.  Daniel  O'Connell  died  of  a 
broken  heart  at  Genoa,  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  William  Smith 
O'Brien,  the  leader  of  the  Irish  rebellion,  being  found  without  attend- 
ants, arms,  or  troops,  was  arrested,  convicted  of  high  treason,  and  sen- 
tenced to  an  ignominious  death.  His  sentence  being  commuted  by  the 
Crown,  he  is  now  an  exile  in  Van  Dieman's  Land. 

Simultaneously  with  the  failure  of  these,  the  last  efforts  hitherto 
made  for  the  redemption  of  Ireland,  poverty  and  pestilence  stalked 
abroad  through  that  ill-fated  country,  exciting  the  sympathy  of  nations, 
and  moving  even  the  distant  people  and  Congress  of  the  United  States 
to  send  relief.  Depopulation  of  the  Island  assumed  a  frightful  momen- 
tum, and,  from  that  time  to  this,  has  continued  to  give  the  last  con- 
firmation, which  the  most  skeptical  could  have  required,  of  the  conclu- 
sion, that  never  on  earth  was  a  revolution  more  just  or  more  necessary, 
than  that  attempted  by  William  Smith  O'Brien  and  his  companions  in 
exile. 

Sir,  it  is  not  my  object,  in  this  review,  to  excite  prejudices,  here  or 
elsewhere,  against  England,  or  against  the  Protestant  Church  within 
that  Kingdom.  I  have  no  such  prejudices  myself.  I  disclaim  and 
disdain  partisanship  in  regard  to  historic  events.  O'Connell  was  a 
Catholic  ;  Smith  O'Brien  is  a  Protestant.  The  rage  of  the  sects  has 
died  away  in  the  agony  of  the  catastrophe  which  has  involved  the 
people  of  both  in  a  common  desolation  ;  and  wise  and  sagacious  men  in 
England  look  on  the  decay  of  Ireland  as  an  alarming  presage  of  the 
decline  of  the  Empire.  But,  sir,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  Ireland  is 
entitled  to,  and  from  me  she  has  received,  her  vindication.  The  policy 
of  England  was  the  policy  of  the  age,  and  of  the  times,  and  of  sys- 
tems ;  and  this  is  her  sufficient  apology. 

The  sympathy  of  the  American  people,  then,  in  behalf  of  Ireland,  is 
just. 

I  proceed  to  remark,  that  this  sympathy  derives  intenseness  from  the 
conceded  genius  and  proverbial  virtues  of  the  Irish  people.  The  plains 
of  Waterloo,  and  the  heights  of  Abraham,  attest  that  they  are  brave  as 
well  as  sagacious  in  war.  Like  the  Greeks,  in  their  decline,  they  have 
enchanted  the  world  with  their  wit  and  song  and  eloquence.  They  are 
confessedly  confiding  and  generous  to  a  fault,  while  their  whole  history 
and  traditions,  reaching  now  a  period  of  a  thousand  years,  exhibit  not  cne 
instance  of  unlawful  aggression.  Is  not,  then,  the  tribute  proposed  by 
this  resolution  due  to  such  a  people  1  And  if  so,  why  shall  it  not  be 
offered  1 

I  am  answered,  that  this  is  a  question  for  the  British  Government, 
and  that  it  is  they,  and  not  we,  who  are  to  extend  clemency  or  pardon  to 
the  Irish  exiles.  I  grant  it,  fully  grant  it.  But  men  and  nations  are 
moved  by  persuasion.  What  is  asked  here,  is  not  an  exercise  of  clem- 
ency, but  only  a  word  of  persuation  whispered  to  the  Power  that  can 
grant  it. 

I  am  told  that  we  may  lawfully  sympathize,  as  individuals,  in  the 
misfortunes  of  these  unhappy  men,  and  of  their  more  unhappy  country ; 


but  that  to  us  as  a  political  body — a  State  or  nation — or  as  tlie  repre- 
sentatives— the  Government  of  a  nation — such  sympathy  is  forbidden. 
This  seems  to  me  equivalent  to  saying  that  we  may  indulge  sentiments 
of  generous  compassion,  but  we  shall  never  carry  them  into  beneficent 
action.  The  s}7inpathy  of  the  several  members  of  this  Senate,  or  of 
this  Congress,  or  of  the  individual  citizens  of  the  United  States,  will 
be  unavailing.  If  that  sympathy  is  truly  felt  by  the  nation,  it  can 
only  be  effectually  expressed  in  the  manner  in  which  national  sympa- 
thies, and  determinations  of  the  national  will,  are  always  made  effect- 
ive— by  the  action  of  the  Government.  And,  sir,  let  me  say,  that  there 
is  only  one  code  of  morals  for  mankind,  and  its  obligations  bind  them 
equally,  whether  they  be  individuals,  subjects,  citizens,  States,  or 
nations. 

I  shall  be  told,  that  we  may  not  intervene  in  this,  which  is  a  domestic 
affair  of  a  foreign  Government.  It  is  true  that  we  may  not  intervene  in 
the  affairs  of  any  Government  for  unjust  purposes,  nor  can  we  intervene 
by  force  for  even  just  purposes.  But  this  is  the  only  restraint  imposed 
on  us  by  the  law  of  nations.  That  law,  while  it  declares  that  every 
Government  has  the  absolute  right  to  deal  with  its  own  citizens,  accord- 
ing to  its  own  laws,  independently  of  any  other,  affords  a  large  verge 
and  scope  for  the  exercise  of  offices  of  courtesy,  kindness,  benevolence, 
and  charity.  It  is  Montesquieu  who  says  that  "  the  law  of  nations  is 
founded  upon  the  principle,  that  ever)7  nation  is  bound  in  time  of  peace 
to  do  to  every  other  nation  all  the  good  it  possibly  can,  and  in  time  of 
war,  the  least  evil  it  possibly  can  consistently  with  its  own  real  inter- 
ests." It  is  upon  this  humane  principle  that  diplomatic  intercourse  is 
maintained  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  all  of  whom  are 
by  the  law  of  nations  regarded  as  constituting  one  great  commonwealth. 

Again,  Mr.  President,  it  will  be  said  that  if  we  adopt  this  resolution, 
it  will,  however  harmless  it  be  in  itself,  furnish  a  precedent  for  mis- 
chievous intervention,  either  by  ourselves  in  the  affairs  of  other  States, 
or  by  other  States  in  our  affairs  hereafter.  To  admit  this  argument  is 
to  admit  distrust  of  ourselves.  We  certainly  do  not  distrust  our 
own  sense  of  justice.  We  do  not  distrust  our  own  wisdom.  So  long 
as  we  remain  here,  then,  we  shall  be  able  to  guard  against  any  such 
abuse  of  this  precedent.  Let  us  also  be  generous  instead  of  egoistical, 
and  let  us  believe  that  neither  wisdom  nor  justice  will  die  with  those 
who  occupy  these  places  now,  but  that  our  successors  will  be  as  just 
and  as  wise  as  we  are.  So  far  as  the  objection  anticipates  an  abuse  of 
this  precedent  by  foreign  States,  I  have  only  to  say,  that  if  a  foreign 
State  shall  ask  of  us  just  what  we  now  propose,  and  no  more,  we  shall 
have  no  difficulty  and  no  ground  of  complaint.  If  it  shall  ask  more, 
we  shall  be  free  to  reject  what  shall  then  be  asked,  as  the  British  Gov- 
ernment is  free  to  reject  our  application. 

Sir,  this  proposition  involves  a  view  of  the  relations  of  the  parties 
concerned.  The  people  of  Ireland  are  affiliated  to  us,  as  we  are  to  the 
people  of  Great  Britain.  .  Surely  there  can  be  no  offence  given  by  a 
younger  member  in  offering  mediation  between  the  elder  brethren  of  the 
same  family  upon  a  point  of  difference  between  them. 

But  what  if  Great  Britain  should  take  offence  at  this  suggestion  ? 
What  tli fin  ?  Whv.  then  England  would  be  in  the  wrons,  and  we  in  the 


right.  The  time  has  passed  when  this  country  can  be  alarmed,  by  fear 
of  war  in  such  a  case.  No  one  will  confess  that  he  indulges  any  such 
apprehension.  Sir,  Great  Britain  will  not  take  offence.  She  knows 
that  her  greatness  and  her  fame  are  well  assured.  She  has  no  motive 
whatever  to  affect  wounded  sensibility.  She  will  receive  this  sugges- 
tion in  the  same  fraternal  spirit  in  which  it  is  made.  Nor  will  she 
refuse  the  boon.  She  knows  as  well  as  we  do,  that  rigor  protracted 
beyond  the  necessity  of  security  to  the  State,  reacts.  She  knows  full 
well,  that  for  the  present,  at  least,  sedition  sleeps  profoundly  in  Ireland, 
and  that  the  granting  of  this  appeal  will  protract  its  slumbers.  Great 
Britain  will  be  thankful  to  us  for  our  confidence  in  her  generosity,  for 
her  motto  is,  "  Par  cere  subjectis  et  debellare  superbos." 

While  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  certain  that  we  may,  with  propriety 
and  success,  make  this  appeal  to  Great  Britain,  the  circumstances  in 
which  we  stand,  in  regard  to  Ireland,  render  the  duty  of  making  it 
imperative.  But  for  the  instructions  and  example  of  the  United  States, 
Ireland  would  never  have  attempted  revolution  in  1798,  nor  would 
William  Smith  O'Brien  now  have  been  an  exile  ;  for  if  it  had  not  been 
for  those  instructions  and  that  example,  Ireland  would  long  ago  have 
sunk  into  the  slumber  of  bondage  that  knows  no  waking.  Again,  sir  : 
the  failure  of  Smith  O'Brien  and  his  associates  resulted  from  the  ex- 
haustion of  Ireland.  That  exhaustion  has  contributed  largely  to  the 
elements  of  our  wealth,  strength,  and  power.  If  we  had  not  withdrawn 
the  political  and  physical  means  of  self-defence  and  of  resistance  from 
Ireland  during  the  last  sixty  years,  she  would  now  have  been  able  to 
have  maintained  a  successful  rebellion.  When  O'Connell  gathered  the 
populace  upon  the  hill  of  Clare,  he  found  that  Ireland  was  deserted  by 
the  vigorous,  the  young,  the  strong,  and  that  he  was  surrounded  by  the 
aged,  the  poor,  and  the  spiritless.  It  is  these  reflections  upon  the  pro- 
priety of  the  act  itself,  and  upon  the  relations  in  which  we  stand  towards 
the  parties  to  it,  that  persuade  my  vote  in  favor  of  this  resolution. 

I  have  suggested  to  the  consideration  of  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Illinois,  [Mr.  SHIELDS,]  some  verbal  amendments,  which  seem  to  me 
calculated  to  improve  and  perfect  the  resolution,  in  accordance  with  the 
wish  he  himself  expressed.  Their  design  is  to  guard  more  safely  the 
dignity  of  Congress  and  of  the  United  States.  If  rightly  conceived, 
they  will  have  that  effect.  But  I  am  not  tenacious  of  them.  I  shall 
not  press  them  against  the  wishes  of  the  Senator  from  Illinois.  If  they 
shall  be  adopted,  the  resolution  will  have  my  vote.  If  they  shall  not 
be  adopted,  it  will  have  my  vote.  The  resolution  as  originally  intro- 
duced would  have  received  my  support.  Equally  shall  it  have  my  sup- 
port in  the  modified  form  it  has  assumed,  through  deference  to  the  wishes 
of  other  Senators. 

And  now,  sir,  when  this  resolution  in  any  shape  shall  have  been 
passed,  there  can  be  but  one  wish  of  mine  in  regard  to  the  subject,  that 
Congress  would  have  power  to  gratify  :  That  wish  would  be,  that  he 
who  is  now  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  the  mover  of  the  resolution,  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Illinois,  [Mr.  SHIELDS,]  should  be  made  the 
bearer  of  this  appeal  to  the  "  Soveraine  Queene,"  in  whose  will  and 
pleasure  the  granting  of  it  will  rest.  It  is  the  remembrance  of  a  scene 
in  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  of  English  poems  which  suggests  this  wish. 


8 

It  would  be  a  goodly  and  a  gracious  sight  to  see  that  honorable  Senator 
returning  to  his  native  land,  after  his  chivalrous  and  yet  modest  sojourn 
here,  the  bearer  of  a  proclamation  of  amnesty  from  the  sovereign  of 
his  native  country  thus  obtained.  And  I  should  rejoice  to  see  the 
greeting  of  him  by  his  countrymen, 

"  Shouting  and  clapping  all  their  hands  on  hight, 
That  all  the  ay  re  it  fils  and  flyes  to  Heavenc  bright." 


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